Electronic Dance Music, also known as EDM (we at Poached Magma are not exactly big fans of that acronym), has in recent years, taken over commercial music by storm. Big name producers such as David Guests, Shriller and Arming van Burden have dominated airplay, and current crowd-friendly artistes like Iranian and Lady Gaga have incorporated electronic elements into their pop-till-you-drop chart-toppers.
However, electronic dance music does not stop at whatever you’ve Just bobbed your heads to on the radio – it is a whole new realm of music that requires lots of chemical know-how before even attempting to name yourself as a ‘DC’, let alone a musician or an artist. Before one goes into all the unity-gritty, which consists of instruments, software and production, a basic consensus must be met in terms of what constitutes EDM. What is Electronic Dance Music?
Electronic Dance Music is music produced through equipment and played in a dance-based environment. It creates a different kind of body to music, unlike rock and metal bands of the ass and ass, which allow room for mistakes and improvisation when played live. The common denominator of dance music is armorial the turntables, in which the Disc Jockey (DC) uses to combine tracks electronically into one smooth mix. Synthesizers and voice manipulation through software such as Logic Pro and Fruity Loops are widely used. Organic” instruments such as the acoustic guitar can also constitute as part of the equation, and contemporary musicians bring in eccentric elements – a violin, Congo drums and et cetera – to add that special feel’ to their music. That’s a lot to swallow, isn’t it. The sass – The ‘Birth’ of Electronic Dance Music Some people say that the early usage of electronic instruments and electronic manipulation in music was in the sass, where the boom of funk and soul required the use of the bass guitar and a couple of synthesizers to get the groove going.
What many do not know is that electronic music is said to originate from the use of the Therein, which allows the musician to create sounds by movement. The first commercial appearance of the Therein can be seen in The Beach Boys’ ‘Good Vibrations’ in 1966. With such tinkering around with electronic instruments, Melbourne physician Oval Stephen became one of the pioneers to have a full electronic music album released internationally. During this period, many producers turned to electronic manipulation to solve certain technical problems such as vocal range and sounds that could not be achieved with an ‘organic’ instrument.
The sass – The Interest Continues Disco is one of the biggest genres of this decade, possibly the first wave of electronic music. Ordnance (most people refer to it as Urethras) is said to have emerged during this timeshare, together with familiar and tasteful genres such as funk, soul, History of Electronic Dance Music By magmata A History of Electronic Dance Music By Naomi Claire I Culture | 19 March 2013, Tuesday experimental music. In disco, the emergence of Disco Divas such as Gloria Saying and Donna Summer pioneered the wave of groovy, bass-heavy electronic music.
The release of Saturday Night Fever with the once-suave John Travel and music composed by the Bee Gees, also encouraged the boom of synthesized music. Many established rock musicians also incorporated the usage of synthesizers and modulation in their compositions to create a new genre called Progressive Rock, forming another surge called the New Wave, which then carried on to the ass. The sass – The Experimental Era One such band who incorporated heavy synthesized sounds together with traditional rock music instruments was The Alan Parsons Project.
Previously a sound engineer for The Beetles and subsequently Pink Floyd, Alan Parsons decided to display the technicality of electronic music through concept albums. One lauded track was ‘Eye In The Sky. Electro, House and Techno also gained popularity in this decade, with German wunderkinds Jerkwater playing a huge role in defining the template for electronic music, and samples from their works are still used to this day. House music was born in Chicago, influenced by funk and soul elements. Techno on the other hand, was said to originate from Detroit, where the Belleville Three decided to create something more organic and technical.
In recent times, this genre has been popularized by the Germans. Syncope took root during this era – with the synthesizer becoming the dominant musical instrument for a change. Bands such as the Pet Shop Boys, A-ha! , Depended Mode and New Order made their mark in replacing the remnants of disco from the ass. The sass – The Craze for Computers With the rampant improvement in technology and lowering of its costs, many people were actually able to produce and mix their own electronic music. Down-tempo and Lounge became predominant in the sass, a challenge to the rowdy teen-pop that was dominating the airwaves.
The European Electronic Music Boom (notably in the I-J, Germany and France) led to the opening of many superbly such as Ministry of Sound, and outdoor raves were frequently held. The techno craze developed in Germany, namely Frankfurt and until most recently, Berlin. DC culture became widespread, with artistes such as Paul van Dyke, Pete Tong, Ferry Corsets and TAB becoming household names. Trance also has its roots in the sass, and became the rave in the Netherlands, with Arming van Burden at the helm.
Ago Trance also emerged during this decade, and by the end of the millennium, Bias became the destination for paratroopers. The sass – The Recent Years Till today, many of the electronic music genres are still popular, for example, trance, house and lounge. With technological advancements, many other sub-genres of music then evolved – Nu-disco bands like Miami Horror, The Phenomenal Handclasp Band and Electroscope bands are looking to becoming mainstays in this era. Another sub-genre that is slowly developing and being widely appreciated would be minimal techno, with Apart and Nicolas Ajar on the front line of this sub-genre.
Various fusions such as Trap (electronic hip-hop), with groups like Bloodstream’s are also gaining popularity in clubs. The controversial deputes phenomenon has also instilled of this decade. With the sass not over yet, one can say that this is only the beginning of Electronic Dance Music as there are many other fusions and genres that have not even been created, much less discovered. As Ferry Corsets puts it succinctly, “Trance is the classical music of the future. ” As for Electronic Dance Music, it sets the template for future musicians. – Image Credits: AP, dangerousness. Com
